Chapter 1

My husband couldn't stand the smell of gardenias.

Six years married, and there wasn't a single potted plant in our house.

Until my birthday.

That was the day I saw him buy out an entire flower shop, picking out ninety-nine gardenias for his new female assistant.

He said she'd just been dumped and needed comforting.

I didn't make a scene.

I just told the clerk to wrap up every last gardenia in the shop.

"Since you love them so much, take them home."

The assistant hid behind him, eyes red.

"Ma'am, please don't misunderstand. Mr. James only feels bad that no one loves me."

He tried to explain too.

"There's nothing between me and Sarah Fox."

I laughed.

"Nothing, except you forgot my birthday but remembered to buy her flowers."

"Nothing, except I sent you twenty messages and you didn't answer one, but the second she cries you buy out a flower shop."

"Humphrey James, that clean conscience of yours is worth a fortune."

1.

"Aren't you the one who can't breathe when you smell gardenias?"

The bouquet froze in Humphrey's hand, halfway raised.

The white petals crushed together, sweet enough to give you a headache.

The girl behind him blinked, eyes reddening, as if I were the one who'd been caught red-handed, not them.

"Ma'am, please don't get the wrong idea."

Her voice was thin and soft.

"Mr. James only came out to buy flowers with me because I was in a bad mood today."

I glanced at the electronic screen on the wall.

Ninety-nine gardenias, wrapping charged separately.

Some bad mood.

Bad enough that my husband had to swipe his card to cheer her up.

Humphrey frowned. "Elisa Winfield, what are you doing here?"

"It's my birthday," I reminded him. "Half an hour ago you said you had a meeting and couldn't make it home for dinner."

The clerk stood off to the side, so awkward he didn't know what to do with his hands.

Humphrey's throat worked.

"Sarah just got dumped by her boyfriend. She's a young girl, she was crying hard, so I stopped by to check on her."

Sarah lowered her head at once.

"Mr. James, this is all my fault."

"I shouldn't have bothered you."

"Ma'am must think I'm a terrible woman, but I really wasn't trying to take anything."

Listen to that.

Like green tea left to steep three days. Sour and overpowering.

I walked over and reached out to touch the bouquet.

"Not trying to take anything?"

"Then what are you doing holding flowers my husband bought?"

Sarah bit her lip.

The tears hung there, refusing to fall.

"Ma'am, Mr. James insisted on giving them to me."

"He said a girl should get flowers when she's sad."

I nodded.

"He's good at this, then."

"I've been married to him six years. Allergic rhinitis, asthma, can't stand the smell of flowers, no scents allowed in the house."

"Forget gardenias, even the detergent has to be fragrance-free."

"So it turns out it isn't that he can't stand the smell."

"It's that it depends on the person."

Humphrey's face darkened.

"Elisa, quit the barbed remarks."

I laughed.

Sarah's shoulders trembled.

"Ma'am, please don't talk about Mr. James like that."

"He works so hard, and you're at home full-time, so maybe you don't know how much pressure he's under."

"I only wanted to make things a little easier for him."

I raised my eyes to her.

"You, make things easier for him?"

"Using what?"

The shop went dead silent.

The clerk sucked in a breath.

Sarah's face flushed scarlet in an instant.

Humphrey slapped the flowers down on the counter and grabbed at me.

"Elisa, that's enough."

"She's only twenty-three. Do you have to humiliate her like this?"

I shook his hand off.

"What's twenty-three supposed to mean?"

"Twenty-three is old enough to have her eye on a married man?"

"You feel sorry she's so young. Why don't you feel sorry for your daughter, still at home waiting for her dad to cut the cake?"

Something impatient flickered in Humphrey's eyes.

"Lola has you with her."

"Sarah has no family, no one in this whole city."

I actually laughed, that furious.

He really had the nerve to say it.

I turned to the clerk.

"How many gardenias are left in this shop?"

The clerk froze. "Sorry?"

"All of them."

I took out my card.

"Including the ones in his hands."

Humphrey's brow twitched.

"Elisa, what kind of fit are you throwing now?"

I slapped the card down on the counter.

"Buy them and take them home."

"You like giving flowers, don't you?"

"Today I'm going to watch you give them."

Sarah panicked and grabbed at Humphrey's sleeve.

"Mr. James, I don't want them, I really don't want them."

"If Ma'am doesn't like it, I can leave."

"No one's ever protected me, since I was little. I can take being treated unfairly."

I nearly applauded.

She had the lines down cold.

And sure enough, Humphrey's face softened.

"Sarah, don't cry."

Then he looked at me.

"Elisa, have you made enough of a scene?"

"Today's your birthday. I'll make it up to you when we get home."

I stared at him.

"Make up what?"

"Make up a birthday you forgot, or make up the flowers you bought for another woman?"

He said nothing.

Sarah sniffled.

"Ma'am, Mr. James only pities me."

"You have a home, a child, the status of Mrs. James that Mr. James gave you. Why fight with me over a single bouquet?"

I walked up to her.

She instinctively shrank behind Humphrey.

I grabbed the flowers out of her arms in one motion.

The thorns dug into my palm.

The pain was very clear.

"Because these flowers were bought by my husband."

"Because my daughter asked three times tonight when her dad is coming home."

"Because I don't like people holding my things and playing the victim."

I shoved the flowers back into Humphrey's arms.

"Hold them."

Humphrey's face went ashen.

"Elisa."

I lifted my phone and took a picture of the two of them.

"Don't move."

"You're both so clean. What's there to be afraid of?"

Sarah burst into sobs.

Humphrey finally lost his temper.

"Delete that picture."

I waved the phone.

"I can delete it."

"You carry these flowers and come home with me."

"And you tell Lola, to her face, why her dad didn't come home to celebrate Mom's birthday with her."

His lips pressed into a thin line.

A few seconds passed, and he lowered his voice.

"Elisa, don't drag the kid into this."

I looked at him.

"So you do remember you have a kid."

The clerk carried out all the remaining gardenias.

Armful after armful, piled up like a funeral wake.

Humphrey's face drained of color, bit by bit.

I stuffed the receipt into his suit pocket.

"Let's go."

He stared at the flowers and didn't move.

Sarah cried harder.

"Mr. James, don't worry about me."

"I'll just leave."

"Someone like me was never worth being firmly chosen anyway."

Humphrey's fingers tightened.

The next second, he threw the flowers back onto the counter.

"Elisa, let me take her home first."

I blocked the doorway.

"You walk out and see what happens."

His eyes went cold.

"You really have to make this ugly?"

I stared into his eyes and said it word by word:

"Humphrey, you walk out that door today, and we're getting divorced."